Around the UK

South Africa's fear factor - how crime affects sportspeople

It was 5am on Sunday, 23 May 2004 when Frieda Visagie heard a car engine start outside the family smallholding in Maggiesdal, South Africa.

Convinced the Volkswagen of their 19-year-old daughter Marle was being stolen, she woke her husband Rudi and he leapt out of bed.

The 6ft 5in former Springbok rugby player ran to the cupboard, grabbed his 7.65mm pistol and broke open a window. He took aim at the moving vehicle and, with one pull of the trigger, it came to a standstill.

They raced out to apprehend the thief, only to encounter the unthinkable.

"As we got to the car, it was my daughter," 53-year-old Rudi recalls. "The only daughter I have, I will ever have. One that I love with all my heart.

"I saw her in the car, with her head over the steering wheel. Lifeless. There was no life. She was dead on the spot.

"I remember it like yesterday. Something like that doesn't just get out of your mind, it's part of your life. You can't change it, you can't change the bullet, you can't change anything."

South Africa in the spotlight

Guns in circulation
5,950,000

Registered guns
3,737,676

Average guns per 100 people
12.7

Global rank by gun ownership
50

Gun murders
8,319 - USA 9,930

Gun murders per 100,000 people
17.03 - USA 2.97

Sources: South African Police Service, UNODC

Two weeks earlier, Marle had told her father she would be driving to see her boyfriend that morning as a surprise for his birthday.

In the meantime, two people were shot dead by robbers at the property next door, prompting Rudi to move his gun from a safe in an outbuilding to the bedroom. He "totally forgot" about Marle's trip.

The Paralympic champion claims he mistook Steenkamp for an intruder,
citing South Africa's crime rate
to justify a paranoia that led him to keep a gun under his bed and open fire on a locked toilet door.

Many would find the idea of sleeping with a firearm in close proximity unusual, but somebody who can relate to it is
Andrew Hall.

Before leaving South Africa for England on a permanent basis in 2011, the former Proteas cricketer slept with a revolver on his bedside table.

Andrew Hall

"I don't think I've ever been back to a cash machine. Not two months after my incident, the same thing happened at the same ATM, but the person got killed."

It is a precaution Hall would not have considered during a peaceful upbringing in Johannesburg, but his thinking changed following two attacks and a house robbery in the space of three years.

The first came in 1998 when he was attacked by two men at a cash machine. Six bullets were fired from point-blank range; one lodged in his left hand, another grazed his cheek and four missed their target.

"I don't think I've ever been back to a cash machine," says the Northants all-rounder. "Not two months after my incident, the same thing happened at the same ATM, but the person got killed."

Three years later, Hall was looking to sell his car and agreed to meet the prospective buyer in a shopping centre parking lot, which was supposed to be patrolled by guards.

But when Hall refused the man and a companion a test drive, a gun was shoved into his side. He was forced into the car, driven around Johannesburg for 45 minutes with the gun pointed to his head and eventually dumped in Soweto.

After his home was broken into and ransacked in a separate incident, Hall chose to spend heavily on security at home, installing gates, reinforced windows, motion-activated alarms and electric fencing. He also purchased and gained a licence for the firearm.

Were it not for his international career, Hall would have left South Africa earlier and he feels there are "too many risks" for him and his wife to return on a permanent basis.

The ordeal of former New Zealand rugby coach
John Mitchell
was no less traumatic, yet he chose to remain in the country.

South Africa statistics 2012

Murders
15,609 (UK 550)

Murder per 100,000 people
30.9 - down 27.6% since 2004

Attempted murder
14,894

Attempted murder per 100,000 people
29.4 - down 54.6% since 2004

All sexual offences
64,419

Rape per 100,000 people
14.6 - up 7.4% since 2008

Carjacking
9,540

Carjacking per 100,00 people
18.7 - down 37% since 2004

Residential robbery
16,813

Residential robbery per 100,00 people
33.1 - up 64.4 since 2004

Drug-related crime
175,823

Drug-related crime per 100,00 people
348.5 - up 158% since 2004

Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs
69,232

Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs per 100,000 people
137.3 - up 155.7% since 2004

Sources: SA Police Service, Crime Stats SA

Mitchell was
attacked in his sleep,
stabbed, and tied up as intruders raided his Johannesburg apartment in 2010.

"I was just saying 'Please don't kill me'," he remembers. "Everything flashed past me very quickly - 'Is this the end?' I was emotionally gone. I just wanted them to leave me alive."

Mitchell had recently moved over from Australia to coach Golden Lions and believes his position in the public eye, not to mention a branded car, made him an obvious target.

"But the best thing I ever did was stay in South Africa and face it," he says. "If I had left, I would still be thinking about that situation. People here are underprivileged and have to earn a living to keep alive.

"This is part of our country, part of the life we live in. If you are in that position, just make sure you leave people's lives intact."

The burglars who attacked and killed ex-South Africa cricketer
John Commins
at his Cape Town home on 2 January this year were not so forgiving.

His tearful daughter Donne, agent to some of South Africa's leading cricketers, says: "Not a single person is untouched by crime in this country. It feels to me like we're living a bit in the wild west."

She talks of a "perpetual anxiety" and "underlying fear", but is adamant "this is no longer a white and black thing" and that sportspeople are no more at risk than any other citizens.

Crime expert
Rudolph Zinn
argues sportspeople are actually less at risk because criminals do not want to attract the greater media and police attention that inevitably accompanies high-profile cases, such as the murders of
Solly Tyibilika
in 2011 and
Corrie Sanders
a year later.

One common message from each of the interviewees was that the government must take decisive action to address poverty, unemployment, lack of education and immigration.

South Africa's murder rate
is falling, but it remains 30 times higher than the United Kingdom. Gun ownership figures are fairly average, yet South Africa has one of the world's highest rates of gun deaths.

While serious crime has reduced by 31.8% since 2004, residential robbery is up by 64.4% and drug-related crime by 158%.

John Smit

"For me, it's surprising to sleep with a gun by your bed. I sleep with the door open to hear the sea. You've got to read your area. Perhaps I'm luckier in Durban - I've never felt targeted."

Commins refuses to blame the "overwhelmed" police. The officer investigating her case is handling 30 other serious crimes and said 15 faulty police cars at his station cannot be fixed until April.

South Africa Rugby World Cup-winning captain
John Smit
moved to English club Saracens in 2011, but he insists the switch had nothing to do with security fears and will be heading home this summer.

"I lived happily in South Africa and look forward to moving back, letting my kids play outside and ride their bicycles to school," explains Smit.

"For me, it's surprising to sleep with a gun by your bed. I sleep with the door open to hear the sea. You have to read your area. Maybe I'm lucky in Durban. I've never felt targeted."

Smit is not trying to hide from the problems faced by his homeland, rather urging people to recognise how far the nation has come since the end of
Apartheid
in 1994.

"We've come a long way and things are improving, but we know we have our issues and there is work to do," he says.

Former detective Zinn has carried out research to uncover police corruption, a lack of experience among officers and a confidence among criminals that they will not be caught.

It is no wonder those who can afford it are taking matters into their own hands. South Africa's private security industry employs more than double the number of police officers, while
almost 1,000 new security businesses
were registered last year.

"A very good security company is worth its weight in gold," says Mitchell, who moved to a high-security apartment complex after his attack was made possible by a guard falling asleep.

Comments

As has always happened throughout Africa. The white politicians had the contacts and cash to go abroad. They sold out white voters and left those who cannot move to a life as potential victims of crime. In Zimbabwe post Rhodesia like an earlier poster, never realised the stress, especially with every night noise, until leaving!The rainbow nation on scaes of justice are heavily leaning darkly.

My godmother lives in SA, and I've always wanted to visit, but the crime statistics and stories have always put me off. She lives in Jo'burg, which is seen to be the most dangerous place of all. I had school friends who went on a rugby/netball tour - and they got robbed at gun point at a party, one girl had a gun put in her mouth. Need I say more...

I've lived in South Africa since 2010, and have also been a victim of a break-in, which can inspire a fear that is difficult to get over. The tragedy of this is that the vast majority of South Africans are kind, hospitable, and trusting, and it is the relatively few criminals that tarnish this country's image and promote fear -- resulting in such horrible accidents as described in this article.

I consider myself to be pretty darn liberal, but I have to say that this side of the rainbow nation is rarely portrayed in the left-wing media. Horrible stories, horrible situation and no obvious answers.

The man in the article had absolutely no right to shot someone he thought had already stolen his car. He was in no danger. I have lived in SA. I enjoyed it because as a young single man i had an underdeveloped sense of fear. I would not move back with my wife and kids. Too much to lose.

@65 you say in your post that the USA has worse gun crime than South Africa, do you think that the stats in the article, which say that there are over 5 times as many gun deaths per capita in South Africa than the USA are wrong?

How can anyone say it was safer under apartheid? That shows a disgusting amount of ignorance. Under apartheid the majority of the country lived in 5% of the land and could not move with any freedom. This means that within the Homelands and the townships all crime was concentrated and under reported. It was safer for white people. But as a whole it was worse. Very dangerous country, but still home.

I'm a Welshman and I moved to SA approx 8 years ago. In the 8 years I lived here, I have had one car stolen and another broken into. Could this have happened in the same 8 year period in the UK? Yes...Crime is everywhere...you just need to asses your own situation and take the necessary precautions. I dont feel (IMHO) that i have needed to take any additional precautions here than in the UK...

I'm a non white south african and are amazed to see this story here. sure we have crime and nobody is denying it, but we must be carefull what we read. the media are still controled by the same guys and the only time that crime gets attention is when whites are involved. do yuorself a favour and read the comments one news24.co.za how the reaction is when blacks are victims of crime. schocking

OK I dont live there but SA is a fantastic place been twice before & will be back Christmas this year for 3rd time. For a visitor as long as you are sensible, I do not see any problems. London can be as dangerous in places!Been to Brazil a place I did feel vunarable!

Never lived in SA but have been.Never felt unsafe but I think it is like anywhere in the world there are nice parts and violent parts-Have to say the friends I visit in Jo'burg do live in a very secure and well guarded estate and I don't claim to know the ins and outs of SA life and politics but if someone asked me whether it was safe from my own experience I would say yes as long as you are aware

In the space of 2 yrs my father was murdered in S.A. and my best friends' gf raped. It is an extremely dangerous country compared to the UK or any first world country. The chances of violent crime is high.However after 5 years in the UK, my family and I have decided to return for good. Why? Because it is where we belong, it is home...warts and all.We can no longer fool ourselves as so many do.

Moved from UK to USA 14 years ago and met lots of SA's in my work place. All the women would never go back and 90% of the man say the same.All love the place, scenery etc but the risk to family is too great.

FIRSTLY: Forget the stats, they are manipulated by ANC with too much too hide.

Secondly, a few weeks after I left South Africa to UK, I became suddenly aware of a relaxed feeling in my shoulders and neck. I HAD LIVED ALL MY LIFE TILL THEN IN STRESS MODE! I had assumed it was normal. South Africans don't know the stress they are living under because they have never experienced anything different.

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